Laughter Is the Best Medicine

In the original manuscript of my book, “The Art of Radical Self Love: The First Steps to Healing and Well-Being”, the subject of laughter had its own chapter. In the final published form, it moved from Chapter Four to Chapter Six, and was combined with eating and relaxation. I am still uneasy with that decision.

Laughter is so essential to health. The purpose of the book is to help the reader bring their body back into healthy balance. Laughter gives immediate relief from stress and resets our bodies to a calm and balanced state. This is its gift of activating our parasympathetic nervous system. A good laugh keeps the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in perspective, and reminds us we can choose to find joy in our life, regardless of external situations.

Laughter usually comes from tapping into our sense of humor. Oddly enough, the three major topics of humor don’t seem to be terribly funny – sex, religion, and death. But they are the most significant and universal aspects of human nature, and often not spoken about, so laughing about them allows us to realize we’re not alone in our fears or doubts. Laughter creates a sense of community that helps us navigate the stresses of life’s realities and our inability to control them.

What we can control is our thoughts about them. According to the late psychiatrist Dr. William Fry, Jr., an expert on the therapeutic use of laughter, the United States has raised “war generations” that have adopted direct violent actions as their primary response to frustration and stress because that is their primary learned coping mechanism. Humor offers a creative alternative to violence. Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “The human race has only one really effective weapon, and that is laughter”.

Knowing that, we can use the countermeasure of laughter to break the tension of serious situations. To paraphrase philosopher G. K. Chesterton, life is serious, but living can’t be – we must have mirth or we will have madness. Love yourself by finding something positive that makes you laugh, and make time to laugh every day. A good sense of humor is also linked to higher intelligence, so it’s a smart thing to do.

Low spirits can sap our energy. Laughter is the best medicine to restore it. Plus, it’s effective, easy, and free!

Much love. Be well.